Bad Etymology

Tuesday, February 17th, 2026

Fr. John Naugle shared his favorite etymological fact on X, the origin of bad:

Middle English: perhaps from Old English bæddel ‘hermaphrodite, womanish man’.

Or, as Cowboy Online put it:

The Saxons called stuff they didn’t like “gay” until the word for “gay” became synonymous with “bad”.

Comments

  1. Phileas Frogg says:

    Bring back the bog.

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